Measurements of Wind Loads on Side-by-Side Semi-Submersibles in A Wind Tunnel

The multi-body system has been a popular form for offshore operations in terms of high efficiency.The wind effects are crucial which directly affect the relative positions of floating bodies and operating security.In this study,the aerodynamic characteristics for two coupled semi-submersibles were analyzed in a wind tunnel to fill the gaps in literature related to the wind sheltering on offshore platforms.The influences of separation distance were also investigated.According to the results,substantial shielding effects were observed and wind forces on the shielded vessel decreased dramatically:a reduction in the transverse force could be up to 74%.Moreover,the longitudinal wind load was amplified by the platform abreast in a side-by-side configuration.As expected,the interference level became more pronounced with a decreasing separation distance.For cases in which wind interaction decayed rapidly with distance,logarithmic functions were preferable for describing the relationship between them.Whereas linear fitting was reasonable for the transverse wind force when there was still evident sheltering at a quite large distance.The length of shielding area was another important factor that there was approximately a linear relationship between it and the shielding level for two platforms in close proximity at various wind attack angles.Based on the two parameters,a preliminary wind loads estimation method considering shielding effects was proposed.This approach can aid the industry to have a qualitative assessment of wind sheltering especially at early stages.

A Review of the Calculation Methods of Lifting Capacity in Wind Loads on Ocean Platforms

Wind load is a control load that affects the safety of structures in the design of ocean platforms. It has not only direct and powerful effects that may cause structure resonance but also has indirect effects causing waves or currents in the ocean. By analyzing the domestic and international norms, this study presents a review of calculation methods of wind load on ocean platforms, which belongs to large-scale non-entity structure used in the open sea while surrounding wind has no fixed direction. Current computations according to the norms are not accurate, which even not takes the force of the wind against the surface perpendicular to the structure into consideration. Additionally, this study also introduces and compares the lift model of platforms based on different theories, such as vortex-excitation and vibration, engineering structure dynamics, gas flow pressure theory, analyzing their applicability, advantages, and disadvantages. This paper analyzes the limitations and applicable conditions of the existing calculation method itself, such as the lift model is suitable for the existence of stable vortex wake;the calculation method of the structural dynamics of marine engineering must be combined with the wind tunnel test and consider the mistakes caused by the position relationship;the numerical simulation method is accurate but tedious. This study provides an insight into the calculation methods of lift in designing ocean platforms, including the finite element method for simulating fluid force and updating formulas in Chinese norms.

Effects of corner modifications on wind loads and local pressures on walls of tall buildings

In this study, the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings with corner modifications (e.g., local wind force coefficients, mean pressure distributions, normalized power spectrum density, and extreme local pressure) were examined. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted to measure the wind pressures on building models with different heights and recessed corners of different ratios. At a wind direction of a = 0° (i.e., wind blowing on the front of a building), corner modifications effectively reduced wind forces in all cases. Specifically, small corner modification ratios reduced wind forces more effectively than their larger counterparts. However, corner modifications resulted in extreme local pressure on building surfaces. In addition, for small corner modification ratios, the probability of extreme local pressure occurring at a = 0° was high. This probability was also high for large corner modification ratios at a = 15° (i.e., wind blowing slightly obliquely on the front of a building) because wind blowing obliquely creates substantial vortex shedding on one side surface and extreme negative pressure over one building side surface. Results of computational fluid dynamic modeling were adopted to determine details of the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings with corner modifications.

Simulating the Stress-Strain Response of Building under Oscillating Wind Conditions

Wind load is one of the main lateral control loads that need to be considered in the design of high-rise building structures. It is also of great engineering significance to study the influence of static wind load or time-varying wind load on the dynamic response of structures. In this paper, a high-rise building with a rectangular section (46.8 m × 27 m × 33 m) is simulated based on Ansys18.0 APDL software. The real situation of its response under no lateral wind load and different fluctuating wind load conditions is simulated and the stress and strain response of the building under steady-state and time-varying wind load is given. The results show that the upper strain of the structure under wind load is about 1/1000 of the bottom strain, and the strain of the structure shows obvious accumulation from the top to the bottom, that is, the bottom strain of the building will be higher than the top strain. The influence of time-varying wind load on building structure is related to the loading position of wind load on the structure. The results provide a basis for the structural wind resistance design of this type of building.

Non-stationary Buffeting Response Analysis of Long Span Suspension Bridge Under Strong Wind Loading

The non-stationary buffeting response of long span suspension bridge in time domain under strong wind loading is computed. Modeling method for generating non-stationary fluctuating winds with probabilistic model for non-stationary strong wind fields is first presented. Non-stationary wind forces induced by strong winds on bridge deck and tower are then given a brief introduction. Finally,Non-stationary buffeting response of Pulite Bridge in China,a long span suspension bridge,is computed by using ANSYS software under four working conditions with different combination of time-varying mean wind and time-varying variance. The case study further confirms that it is necessity of considering non-stationary buffeting response for long span suspension bridge under strong wind loading,rather than only stationary buffeting response.

General Expression of LRC Method in Estimation of Bridge’s Equivalent Static Wind Load

According to the relationship between load and response, the equivalent static wind load(ESWL) of a structure can be estimated by load-response correlation(LRC) method, which can be accurately used to estimate the background ESWL of a structure. The derivation of the classical expression of LRC formula is based on a specific command response at a critical position, and the ESWL distribution has only one form in this case. In this paper, a general expression of LRC formula is derived based on a specific command response at all positions. For the general expression, ESWLs can be expressed by load-response correlation coefficients, response-response correlation coefficients, RMS values of the fluctuating wind loads, and peak factor in the form of matrices. By comparing the expressions of LRC method, it was found that the classical expression was only one form of the general one. The general expression which introduces the response-response correlation coefficients provided more options for structural engineers to estimate ESWLs and offered further insights into the LRC method. Finally, a cable-stayed bridge, a rigid three span continuous girder bridge, and a suspension bridge were used to verify the correctness of the general expression of LRC method.

Collapse and Reinforcement of Pipe-Framed Greenhouse under Static Wind Loading

The present paper investigates the collapse process of a pipe-framed greenhouse under static wind loading based on a non-linear finite element analysis.The purpose is to establish a more reasonable wind resistant design method for such structures.The structures are so flexible that the fluid-structure interaction(FSI)is considered in the analysis.In practice,iterative analyses of the structure’s response and the wind pressure distribution on the deformed structure are made.The wind direction is normal to the ridge.Computational fluid dynamics(CFD)analysis with a RANS turbulence model is used for evaluating the time-averaged wind pressure coefficient distribution on the structure.Both the geometric and the material non-linearity are considered in the structural analysis.The collapse behavior obtained is consistent with the practical one often observed in damage investigations.Based on the results,discussion is made of the validity of the current design guideline commonly used in Japan.The same analysis is carried out for various reinforced models.The effect of each reinforcement method on the improvement of wind resistance of the structure is investigated on the basis of the allowable stress and deformation limits specified in the current design guideline.

Analysis and finite element simulation for mechanical response of wheat to wind and rain loads

The morphological characteristics and stalk biomechanical properties at the dough stage of wheat were determined using the variety of wheat in the breeding process.Their mechanical responses to wind and rain loads for an individual and a group of wheat were simulated using finite element method by ANSYS.The stress and displacement of each finite element can be outputted through stress nephogram and displacement nephogram,respectively.In order to judge whether the wheat could return to its original position after deformation,elastic mechanics theory was utilized to analyze the critical load of instability under both axial rain load and transverse wind load.The large displacement situation was analyzed with large displacement elastic nonlinear theory and the numerical value was obtained by ANSYS.The results show that it is possible to apply various load types on models using ANSYS and the dynamic response can be simulated well under different rain and wind loads.The location of maximum Von Mises stress can be calculated and the variation of stress can be described clearly,which are helpful to predict the wheat lodging under wind and rain loads.

海洋旅游平台上层建筑优化设计的数值模拟

This paper aims to reduce the wind resistance of the self-designed offshore tourism platform by optimizing its superstructure,and a transparent shape design is finally suggested.A numerical simulation was performed to calculate the wind load on the platform to test the effect of wind resistance reduction.Two original scale models(sealed and transparent)were established in accordance with the design requirements.The numerical simulation uses the FLUENT software combined with the built-in self-compiled user-defined function(UDF).The stochastic wind was also applied on the basis of the Davenport wind spectrum.The detached eddy simulation(DES)model was used to solve the NS equation.Numerical simulation results show that the wind resistance reduction for the transparent shape model is subtle in the horizontal direction but can effectively reduce the drag force and moment in the vertical direction.Moreover,the force variation of the transparent shape model under different wind attack angles decreases,which reduces the wind load fluctuations.

TMT Tertiary Mirror Optical Jitter Model Metrology

To measure the jitter performance of the Tirthy Meter Telescope tertary mirror( TMT M3),the model of jitter based on the accerleration signal is established. First and foremost,the procedure TMT required to processs the jitter data is presented. Then,the jitter of the system is divided into two parts: powered jitter and unpowered jitter. The metric of the jitter is required to be in the form of displacement or angle. So the frequency integration is involved to minify the error source introduced by the tending iterm in the time domain integration.In the evaluation of the power jitter,the accelerometers are used to obtain the rigid body motion of the tertiary mirror. The random decrement technique and dominated mode theory are applied to obtain the model of unpowered jitter. A classical telescope performances a 1. 6"RMS jitter metric; for a four meter scale system,the resonance frequency is around 107 Hz,powering,with 0. 14% damping. Consequently,the tip( 183 Hz,0.6%) and tilt( 193 Hz,0.19%) are both be measured. Using this model,the system engineers can estimate the unpowered jitter when the system is presented in the distortion.

Experimental study on full scale light frame wood house under repeated lateral load

In order to obtain a deeper understanding of the behavior of the structure under high wind load,this paper conducted an experimental study on a full-scale L-shaped single story light frame wood house under the uniform lateral load simulated using a gasbag.The investigation involved the performance of light frame wood structure after it experienced the repeated cyclic lateral wind load as well as the performance of the structure under the ultimate lateral load.Then,the study verified that light frame wood structure can resist repeated cyclic wind loads without observable degradation in stiffness during the anticipated serve life,and recommended shear wall percent drift restriction for lateral wind load design of wood structure in serviceability limit states is 1/400 drift,and in ultimate limit states is 1/80 drift.The conclusions of this paper can be benefit for the engineering practice of the light frame wood structures in high wind load regions.

Space Transformation-Based Interdependency Modelling for Probabilistic Load Flow Analysis of Power Systems

Dependence among random input variables affects importantly the results of probabilistic load flow(PLF),system economic operation,and system security.To solve this problem,the main objectiveness of the paper is to analyze the performance of several schemes for simulating correlated variables combined with the point estimate method(PEM).Unlike the existing works that considering one single scheme combined with Monte Carlo simulation(MCS) or PEM,by neglecting the correlation among random input variables,four schemes were presented for disposing the dependence of correlated random variables,including Nataf transformation /polynomial normal transformation(PINT) combined with orthogonal transformation(OT) / elementary transformation(ET).Combining with the 2m+1 approach of PEM,a space transformation-based formulation was proposed and adopted for solving the PLF.The proposed approach is applied in the modified IEEE 30-bus system while considering correlated wind generations and load demands.Numerical results show the effectiveness of the proposed approach compared with those obtained from the MCS.Results also show that the scheme of combining Nataf transformation and ET with PEM provides the best performance.

Fragility assessment of wood sheathing panels and roof-to-wall connections subjected to wind loading

The performance of the wood-frame buildings after tornadoes has shown that the majority of the wind damage resulted from building envelope failure most typically due to the loss of the roof.To assess the performance and the reliability of low-rise wood-frame residential buildings with a focus on the roofs,fragility analysis can be used to estimate the probability of failure of a roof when constructed with specified nails and sheathing sizes.Thus,this paper examines the fragility of specific types of nails,roof-to-wall(RW)connection details,and sheathing sizes based on the damaged roofs that were previously assessed in the Dunrobin area in Ottawa(Ontario)that was hit with an Enhanced Fujita(EF3)tornado on September 21,2018.The presented fragility analysis considers four scenarios,including different sheathing and nail sizes.Dead loads,wind loads,and resistance on the sheathing panels were compiled and analyzed to determine the failure of the examined roofs.The eight fragility models suggest that the safest roof sheathing(RS)is the 1.22 m×1.22 m sheathing panel with 8 d nails,and the safest RW connections is achieved by using H2.5 hurricane clips.

Dynamic Response Analysis of a Multi-Column Tension-Leg-Type Floating Wind Turbine Under Combined Wind and Wave Loading

Floating wind turbines(FWTs) are subjected to combined aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads varying both in time and amplitude. In this study, a multi-column tension-leg-type FWT(i.e., Wind Star TLP system) is investigated for its global performance under normal operating conditions and when parked. The selected variables are analysed using a fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic time domain simulation tool FAST.Three different loading scenarios(wind only, wave only and both combined) are examined to identify the dominant load influencing each response. The key response variables are obtained and compared with those for an NREL5 MW baseline wind turbine installed on land. The results should aid the detailed design of the Wind Star TLP system.

Comparison and harmonization of building wind loading codes among the Asia-Pacific Economies

This paper reviews wind loading codes and standards in the Asia-Pacific Region,in particular in the 15 countries and areas.A general description of wind loading model is given as a famous wind loading chain described by four variables including velocity pressure,exposure factor,pressure coefficient,and gust response factor.Through the APEC-WW Workshops and the extensive calculations for three examples of low,medium and high rise buildings,these four important variables of wind loads are evaluated and compared with statistical parameters,mean values and coefficients of variation.The main results of the comparison show some differences among the 15 economies,and the reasons and further incorporation are discussed and suggested.

Collapse fragility assessment of steel roof framings with force limiting devices under transient wind loading

Steel structural frame is a popular structural form to cover large-span roof space and under high winds.Either part of the roof enclosure or the entire roof structure can be lifted off a building,particularly for low sloped roofs subject to wind-induced suction force.Collapse of roof could cause severe economic loss and poses safety risk to residents in the building.The buckling of members in a steel roof frame structure,which may lead to progressive collapse,may be dynamic in nature.This paper presents a fragility analysis of the collapse of steel roof frame structures under combined static and transient wind loading.Uncertainties associated with wind load change rate and member imperfections are taken into account in this study.A numerical example based on a Steel Joist Institute(SJI)K series joist was used to demonstrate the use of force limiting devices for collapse risk mitigation.For the presented fragility assessment of steel roof collapse,a Monte Carlo method combined with response surface approach was adopted,which greatly reduces the computation time and makes the Monte Carlo simulation feasible for probabilistic collapse analysis of steel roof frame structures.

Research on Dynamic Response Characteristics of 6 MW Spar-Type Floating Offshore Wind Turbine

A 6 MW spar-type floating offshore wind turbine(FOWT) model is put forward and a fully coupled aero-hydro-servo-elastic time domain model is established in the fatigue,aerodynamics,structures and turbulence(FAST) code.Influence rules of wind load and wave load on the characteristics of 6 MW spar-type FOWT are investigated.Firstly,validation of the model is carried out and a satisfactory result is obtained.The maximal deviations of rotor thrust and power between simulation results and reference values are 4.54% and-2.74%,respectively.Then the characteristics,including rotor thrust,rotor power,out-of-plane blade deflection,tower base fore-aft bending moment,and mooring line tension,are researched.The results illustrate that the mean value of dynamic response characteristics is mainly controlled by the wind-induced action.For characteristics of tower base fore-aft bending moment and platform pitch motion,the oscillation is dominated by the wave-induced action during all conditions considered.For characteristics of out-of-plane blade tip deflection and mooring line tension,the oscillation is commanded by combination effect of wave and wind loads when the wind speed is lower than the rated wind speed(hereinafter referred to as below rated wind speed) and is controlled by the wave-induced action when the wind speed is higher than the rated wind speed(hereinafter referred to as above rated wind speed).As to the rotor thrust and power,the oscillation is dominated by the wind induced action at below rated wind speed and by the combination action of wind and wave loads at above rated wind speed.The results should be useful to the detailed design and model basin test of the 6 MW spar-type FOWT.

Mapping Network-Coordinated Stacked Gated Recurrent Units for Turbulence Prediction

Accurately predicting fluid forces acting on the sur-face of a structure is crucial in engineering design.However,this task becomes particularly challenging in turbulent flow,due to the complex and irregular changes in the flow field.In this study,we propose a novel deep learning method,named mapping net-work-coordinated stacked gated recurrent units(MSU),for pre-dicting pressure on a circular cylinder from velocity data.Specifi-cally,our coordinated learning strategy is designed to extract the most critical velocity point for prediction,a process that has not been explored before.In our experiments,MSU extracts one point from a velocity field containing 121 points and utilizes this point to accurately predict 100 pressure points on the cylinder.This method significantly reduces the workload of data measure-ment in practical engineering applications.Our experimental results demonstrate that MSU predictions are highly similar to the real turbulent data in both spatio-temporal and individual aspects.Furthermore,the comparison results show that MSU predicts more precise results,even outperforming models that use all velocity field points.Compared with state-of-the-art methods,MSU has an average improvement of more than 45%in various indicators such as root mean square error(RMSE).Through comprehensive and authoritative physical verification,we estab-lished that MSU’s prediction results closely align with pressure field data obtained in real turbulence fields.This confirmation underscores the considerable potential of MSU for practical applications in real engineering scenarios.The code is available at https://github.com/zhangzm0128/MSU.

Distribution of background equivalent static wind load on high-rise buildings

In this paper,the along-wind and cross-wind fluctuating load distributions along the height of high-rise buildings and their correlations are obtained through simultaneous pressure measurements in a wind tunnel.Some typical methods proposed in some relative litera-tures,i.e.,load-response correlation(LRC),and quasi-mean load(QML)and gust load envelope(GLE)methods,are verified in terms of their accuracy in describing the background equivalent static wind load distribution on high-rise buildings.Based on the results,formulae of the distribution of background equivalent static load on high-rise buildings with typical shapes are put forward.It is shown that these formulae are of high accuracy and practical use.